It's torture to stand in the express line at Walmart with Mike. That's where they display the "as seen on TV" items. He whined for a Sham Wow for at least a year. He's off that kick, finally. Now he wants that garden hose that starts out as big as a drinking straw and expands to 1,000 times its size. By and large, infomercial products are crap, and Mike knows it. He just likes to amuse himself (and needle me) when he's stuck in line.
Every now and then, between the PediPaws and the Slap Chop, there's a product that performs as advertised. I noticed an article a couple of months back that praised the Lint Lizard - a flexible vacuum cleaner extension for sucking lint out of clothes dryers. Consumer Reports tested the Lint Lizard, and it really works.
http://consumerist.com/2013/03/22/does-the-lint-lizard-actually-work-surprisingly-yes/ It seemed to me that our clothes were taking longer to dry. Maybe I needed a Lint Lizard.
After some online checking, I concluded that Bed, Bath, and Beyond has the best price on the Lizard - $10.99. If you use a 20% off coupon, the price is reduced to $8.80. Here's the saga:
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| "Lizzy" comes in three parts. Just push them together. The claim that it is 43 inches long is deceptive. The clear hose, the only part that matters, is only 30 inches long. |
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| The green end made a nice tight seal on the vacuum cleaner. Lizzy has vent holes you can open and close to adjust the suction. The clear tubing was tightly curled when it came out of the box. We used a hair dryer, set on high, to heat up and relax the tubing. |
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| The instructions say to clean the screen by hand, then shove Lizzy into the slot to suck out lint. When I did that, I didn't get much lint. I started doubting my purchase. |
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| I pulled out the dryer and detached the dryer duct. I inserted Lizzy into the wall and sucked up an enormous wad of fuzz. I also cleaned the inside of the duct. The instructions also recommend going outside the house and cleaning the outside vent. Our vent is on the roof, so I let that go for now. |
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| There you have it. Lizzy removed all of this. |
Besides keeping the dryer vent clean, Lizzy probably has other uses. I think "she" would be useful for cleaning under the stove and refrigerator and under car seats. I think I might also go 30 inches into the heating ducts to see what I can pull out. I like my new toy.
I have a lizzy also, but you just gave me ideas for other uses. Thank you Edwarda
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting this. I have the same type of dryer vent trap, and was looking into this product to clean under my fridge actually. For some reason Whirlpool figured it would be better to install condenser coils underneath rather than the usual spot of in the back. To make matters worse they are in a zig zag format making it near impossible to reach the others zags per say.
ReplyDeleteGlad you found some value in my post. I hope the Lint Lizard works under your frige. I use it in combination with a very long brush (looks like a two ft. long bottle brush and is very flexible). It was a sad day when they started putting the coils under the frige!
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